


The Truth Will Set You Free

by Wishseeker



Series: Different Perspectives [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dark, M/M, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 12:19:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2109672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wishseeker/pseuds/Wishseeker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story, told through communications between others and the mech’s own statements, of betrayal. Placed in the brig for betraying the Autobot cause, the story of the mech’s life is slowly revealed along with many secrets of the war and Golden Age. When one mech’s story can turn everything you know on it’s head, maybe it is better the mech telling it is erased forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. As A Youngling

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> This story contains sections in which the narrator describes abuses that occurred when he was young of a sexual and exploitive nature. Anyone experiencing such situations in real life is encouraged reach out to local or national organizations for help.
> 
> _______________________________________________________________________________________________

**As A Youngling**

**————————————————————————————**

Private Communication. **SCI PROWL** TO **OPTIMUS PRIME** Status; { ** _ENCRYPTED_** }:

 

_~Regarding the recent incident. TIC Jazz has agreed to preform the interview before final judgement is passed. He will be assisted by myself. We will design to receive a full statement regarding the traitor’s actions._

 

_~It is our hope that a reasonable explanation can be found for the traitor’s actions and that with proper disciplinary action he can be corrected. We understand your hesitance regarding these actions and we are hesitant to use any disciplinary action that could cause lasting harm ourselves considering the traitor’s value to our cause._

 

Communication End.

 

**————————————————————————————**

 

**Transcript of Prisoner Statement #157983**

(SIC Prowl andTIC Jazz Interviewing.)

 

Don’t give me that look. I have my reasons for acting the way I did. I suppose you are here to hear those reasons. It is a long story. Ah Prowl you are going to be here too. Well isn’t this going to just be a barrel of laughs?

 

—Ah yes Prowl I know that you are both my superiors. In certain areas that is. 

 

\--Am I acting out of character? What do you know about my character? I think this entire event has shown how little this base knows about me. I’ve never really been myself around anyone on this base.

 

\--That was a low blow _Sir_. Wheeljack and I have known each other for ages. Longer certainly than I have known you Prowl. But yes, my statement still stands.

 

But this isn’t why you are here is it? I suppose you are here for my story and you will want it from the beginning. 

 

**_Once upon a time..._ **

 

—You want to know why I acted as I did don’t you? Well I thought it best to start at the beginning and since we are on Earth I thought I’d start with an Earth saying. If you want to know why I acted as I did we will have to start with how I was raised after all.

 

—Ah I see, well it is the only way you are going to get my story so you will just have to get used to it.Just for you I will use the way they started stories in my city. All cities had their own variation but our city alway started with; **_Vorns before memory..._** I always thought that was a great way to start a story. 

  
So, vorns before memory, well not really. I was sparked 20 vorns before the war began at the peak of the Golden Age. I could tell you better than anyone, the **“Golden Age”** was more Gilded than Golden. 

 

By 10 vorns, barely a youngling, still with my sparklingname Glyph I was working in a club. Mostly serving drinks, but occasionally I would be asked to dance. Don’t give me that look. I had a very thin frame in my younglinghood. Most of my bulk now is the result of upgrades that were required for my profession. I was a lithe young thing though and very popular. Popular, naive and always desperate for credits.

 

\--I had to go through? Oh, well don’t feel that bad. It is just one wrong in a list of many wrongs I’ve experienced and participated in in my life.   
  
—Why would my creators allow it? My creators were…distant at best, and they often forgot to provide for me. It was alright though I could manage for myself, but I always wanted more. Dancing was one way to get more, and I took full advantage of it. 

 

I didn’t think anything of it when I was asked to work a private closed door event. The promised pay was good and I was young and untouchable. Primus, do you remember those days yourself? When the world was a buffet and nothing could as much as scratch your plating? In those days I thought nothing could hurt me.Huh, I spent a long time believing nothing really did, but Idid grow up that day. 

 

I remember the hotel room was dark and four or five mechs and two seekers were reclining in the room sipping on fine red energon and smoking dark crystals. A temporary pole was set up and I was usurered over to it to begin my dance. I danced for a while and the mechs tipped well on top of my promised pay. It was a wonderful evening. When I was done one mech called me over. 

 

I remember shaking as a large red singular optic scanned me up and down. I don’t remember exactly what he said to me but I remember blushing with pride glad he approved of my dance. He handed me my payment and then asked me if I would like to earn some more. I asked him how much and the number he gave me was twice the amount I had already been given. I nodded quickly and he told me I would have to pass a test first. 

 

I was unsure but I agreed. He took me into a back room and pressed me back onto a berth. I am sure I made a very undignified sound as he examined between my legs. 

 

Now I wasn’t stupid, I knew what two mechs did with the equipment located there though I had no real concept of it beyond the fact it wasn’t talked about in front of sparklings or younglings. 

 

—Huh?

 

\--Rape? Technically, yes you could call it that I was still a youngling after all. I personally have fond memories of that night. Shockwave was more than gentle and took care to make sure I understood what was going on and that I was comfortable. In fact he was my customer many more times after that day and I regretted leaving him.

 

That first time you see he was so gentle even as he broke the seal on my valve. He spread me wide and set such a gentle but powerful pace…

 

\--I understand Prowl this isn’t what you are here to hear. Did you know though that they had a saying in my city about interfacing? They said that once a mech had a taste they would always want more and the younger the first taste the more the spark will wander. Not that...I was alright from it you know, my first time being when I was a youngling, I was almost to my adult frame even! It helped me get where I am today but it isn't something I would want for others you know? Wasn't something for younglings...I am different of course. I mean, I had to be I survived after all. I enjoyed it. That has to mean something.

 

\--Anyways, where was I? I’ll continue. 

 

I had an easier time after I started taking on private parties. Shockwave or one of his mechs handled all my appointments and I was always well protected. I only gave extra services to Shockwave the other mechs content to simply watch the show.A vorn passed like this before I met a mech that changed my life. 

  
He was at the bar one night and he saw me on stage. It was a rough night and a mech managed to catch hold of my ped. They had to get a shockstick to free me from him and I didn’t dance again that night. I didn’t care though, Shockwave had told me he had a surprise for me and I couldn’t wait to see what it was.

 

I didn’t really notice the mech who changed my life until I was pulled into a transport. He told me he was going to save me from my horrid life. He was going to **free** me from my slave masters and give me a good life. 

 

I remember I punched him in the face, but he was stronger than me and I wasn’t yet in my adult frame. He took me to the academy and enrolled me, I don’t know what lies he used to do it or how it was possible but he did. 

 

He became my benefactor, and made it so I was unable to return to my home and work. He gave me my second name Fusion, and told my creators that Glyph had offlined. He was a senior medic though, I suppose he could afford to do such things. He probably thought I would be grateful one cycle. In many ways I was. 

 

\--yes Prowl that is why you can’t find my academy records or my records of where I worked after the academy. Wheeljack is the one who gave me the name Ratchet and when he found me that was the name he identified me by. I simply didn’t bother to correct it afterwards. By then it was better that Fusion was offline. But I am skipping ahead. 

 

My academy years were good normal years, and I hated every moment of them. I tried to escape more than once and when I learned that I couldn’t I took to other activities. 

 

You see there were plenty of mechs that had never interfaced before at the academy and anyone with experience was in demand. I’ve never enjoyed using my spike as much as my valve, but I got plenty of experience good and bad with both during the academy. I broke more than a few sparks and made my fair share of credits in both their hard form and in high-grade. 

 

\--oh hush Prowl Jazz knows what I am talking about. That really was a amazing night Jazz. You were very sweet to me I always meant to thank you for that. 

 

Oh Prowl is leaving, I guess we are done for now. We’ll I’m going to recharge, I will await your return Jazz. 

 

 

**————————————————————————————**

 

Private Communication. ** **SIC Prowl** ** TO ****TIC JAZZ** ** Status; ** { _Open-Shared Channel_ }: **

 

_~Jazz I am not upset with you it was simply, to quote the humans the straw that broke the mammal’s back._

 

_~He talks about such injustices, things we fight against as if they are facts of life. And I realize our life experiences are vastly different and this may simply be his way of coping with the pain he has gone through, but it is my belief he is simply stalling._

 

_~I have been unable to find any details on a mech named Fusion in the systems but I will continue to search. A lot of the records from that time in the academy were lost._

 

_~Medical Officer or not, we cannot allow such a betrayal to go unchecked._

 

Communication End.

**————————————————————————————**

 

 


	2. Academy Years

 

**Academy Years**

**————————————————————————————**

**Transcript of Prisoner Statement #157983**

(SIC Prowl and TIC Jazz Interviewing.) 

Hello again Prowl, Jazz. Are you ready for more of my story?

 

—.

  
Alright I understand you are anxious but I should give you an overview at least of my academy years? I was at the top of my class, not because I spent all of my time studying but because it always seemed to come easy to me. The more challenging the procedure the quicker I picked it up.  

 

It came to no surprise to my professors when I started getting offers of sponsorship as soon as the end of my first year. My benefactor took to asking me to his office weekly to advise me on the offers as well as where to go for my upgrades. He helped me make sure I got all the best upgrades. The best scanners, the best diagnostic programming and a few other slightly more cosmetic procedures. 

 

\--Well several others Jazz. I had several extras sensors added, my optical range increased to infrared and ultraviolet. My facial structure was altered slightly--ascetic reasons. I also had extensive work done on my valve and chamber. My benefactor paid for increased sensitivity within my valve and the work on my chamber was to help a design flaw. 

 

\--Why would he do that? To help his lover of course. You didn’t think I kept myself only to other students did you? And while yes, he forced me into the academy, he was also a kindly old mech and he really cared for me. Over time I grew to care for him as well.

 

He asked me to bond with him when I graduated but I told him I had to move on. He understood. It was one of the saddest days of my life the day he passed across my table. He’d been at the delta-seven outpost before theDecepticon attack. 

 

But back to my story. So time passed and I graduated with top honors. I went out that night with Wheeljack to celebrate. 

 

—Yes I knew Wheeljack. He told you we went to the academy together. I gave him a fake name because at first I didn’t want him to know my real name. After a while though, well it just became natural to become Ratchet for him just as I became Fusion for my academy benefactor and I was Glyph for my creators. It has never mattered to me what names mechs called me, and I have always been good a becoming exactly what mechs wanted.

 

—Twisted? No, no. Well, perhaps. I will admit my moral compass has never been as straight and true as **yours** is Prowl. I have always been preoccupied with doing things that will be most advantageous for myself, though I am honest with my work as a medic. I enjoy saving lives, I enjoy helping mechs and I greatly enjoy my profession. 

 

Now, I was out with Wheeljack celebrating and I’d long since given up on going back to my old life but my spark stopped when I saw **/him/** there at the bar.

 

I took my time working my way over to him knowing he probably wouldn’t recognize me with my upgrades. “Can I sit here?” I asked him and he nodded optic scanning me as it had done so many times before and I shivered down to my very spark. 

 

“I’ve been watching you,” he said. “I must say Glyph, your ‘benefactor’ took good care of you.” I blushed happy both at the compliment and for my own stupidity in thinking this mech who knew me inside and out wouldn’t recognize me no matter the upgrades that I had had. 

 

“I thought you’d forgotten me. Or that you wouldn’t recognize me,” I admitted to him and he placed his servo on my thigh as I spoke and stroked up it slowly. We quickly made our way to a back room and as he pressed me back to the berth and examined me it was like I was a youngling all over again. He as so gentile as he slid into me setting an amazingly smooth pace. I can remember that night so vividly even now. It was amazing, so loving and kind, he touched me in a way I had been missing in the academy. 

 

\--yes Prowl I understand, you aren’t here to hear those details of my life but they are important to the story you see. 

 

—How is my love life important? Well it led me to where we are today after all. It is directly related to what you consider my ‘great betrayal.’ 

 

—Goodness no. I didn’t do it just because many of the Decepticons are excellent frags. Unless you understand my background you will never understand my reasonings. I am supposed to be pleading my case here after all am I not?

 

—This is not my trial Jazz? Oh, I am not so foolish. Everything I say here will be played in my trial, and I want to make sure the record has it right. I also want to be sure if I am denied a trial that my story is still told.

 

—That won’t happen Jazz? Well, I would certainly like to believe it wouldn’t happen.

 

So where was I? Oh of course, after our love making he pulled me to a his chest and asked me a favor. He asked me to deny my offers of sponsorship from the other places and walk on down at the mines. He told me what atrocities were happening there, told me it would be one of the hardest times of my life. That I would see things no one could ever unsee. But he told me they needed me. 

 

If we are honest I didn’t give one lick about mechs who needed me then. I was primed to start making money in the best clinics and making lovers of my best clients, but then, none of them were Shockwave. Shockwave who knew me from my younglinghood and who had always been so good to me.

I went for one reason. I went because I loved him. I have loved few mechs in my life time with all my spark. Few mechs that still claim a piece in some way today. I went because he was, is one of them. For all the horrid things he had done, for all the things he was doing then when he was with me he was kind, caring, and devoted to me. I needed that devotion. 

 

To answer the question you haven’t asked Jazz, yes. Yes I am aware now that he hacked me as a youngling. I am aware now that he paid my benefactor to act as he did and I am aware that I was programed to be loyal to Shockwave and agree with his requests. But that coding has been all but stripped from my system a long time ago.

 

I am aware of many things, some that even you aren’t aware of. I know just how twisted I am Jazz, do you?

 

—Defense for my crimes? Only if you choose to see it as such. It is no true defense though. The coding in me isn’t any stronger now than the coding that connects a sparkling to their creator. I suppose the best way to explain it is that he rewrote himself in my coding as my creator instead of the creators I was sparked to. I suppose that is also why I don’t think back on my actual creators fondly. Maybe they were actually better than I remember, but I doubt it. Shockwave always has had ways of getting what he wants, and he wanted a youngling that was loyal to him. That would love him and would become what he needed. Isn’t that what all creators want for their creations?

 

—-Messed up? Yeah, I suppose I am messed up. I am also tired. Can we finish this some other time?

 

**————————————————————————————**

 

Private Communication.  **SCI PROWL** TO **OPTIMUS PRIME** Status; { ** _ENCRYPTED_** }:

 

_~As the recent interviews with the traitor have become increasingly unsettling to TIC Jazz and myself he has agreed that as long as the interviews are recorded we do not both need to attend the actual interviews._

 

_~I am currently looking into the claims of the coding alterations performed on the traitor by the Decepticon Shockwave. I find such statements highly suspect and have taken a full download of the traitor’s coding for examination. I know you are still hesitant to render verdict, but at this point the traitor shows no remorse for his actions._

 

_~What the transcripts of his statements do not show is that he has been entirely relaxed and calm throughout the interrogation. Although he pretends to be helpful his insistence on telling the ‘entire’ story is merely a delaying mechanism as I am of the opinion he feels no guilt for his actions and knows that we will find him guilty._

 

_—I respectfully request that you convict him on evidence currently available and put an end to this farce of an interrogation._

 

Communication End.

 

**————————————————————————————**

 

 


	3. How The Best Medic Got That Way

**How The Best Medic Got That Way**

**————————————————————————————**

**Transcription of Prisoner Statement #157983**

(TIC Jazz Interviewing followed by SIC Prowl.)

Ah Jazz, good morning. Just you today?

 

—I am glad you are well and no. No, I am not surprised that you are here alone. I saw the way my story had been affecting Prowl, but then he was sparked a little higher ranked than either you or I were wasn’t he?

 

—It isn’t an insult. It is a fact. You know how things really were, what it took to survive. Honestly I am surprised you didn’t see this side of me vorns ago considering what you were before the war. You even knew me in the academy! That should have given a mech like you the advantage.

 

—Oh I know you didn’t attend the academy, that place was far too rich for your energon, mine as well but I had no choice. I remember you from the old bar on the corner of Sequential and Strip. I must say you were a lovely mech even back then. I will give you a hint. My youngling frame was blue with florescent stripes up my legs and around my seams.

 

—Ah! Yes. That would be me. I caused quite a ruckus didn’t I? And we made some very beautiful music together. I miss those days, my old frame was quite a head turner, an so was yours. 

 

—Don’t be ashamed, we were both younglings and honestly I had done far worse things than sneak into a bar and frag the help. But you weren’t just help even in those days were you. Tell me before the “ **Golden Age”** fell, how much of the organized crime in the city were you running from behind the scenes?

 

—You don’t know what I am talking about? Ah I suppose that is another story isn’t it? And one that isn’t mine to tell. Certainly one you don’t want on the official records. Lets get back to my story shall we? Before I get you into too much trouble. 

 

I had just fragged Shockwave. Or rather he had fragged me quite soundly. It was loving and gentle at first, it always was but before the end of the night he had my servos cuffed behind my back as he bent me over the table in the room and took full advantage of the upgrades to my valve. 

 

He pounded into me until I passed out and when I online he was using my spark. The whole speech I told you he gave me before? About mechs who needed my assistance? He gave me that while he had me sucking his spike.

 

I have always enjoyed sucking a good sized spike, it is such an interesting experience you know. It can be empowering to you or to your lover and yet it can also be demeaning as well. Mechs love to play at punishing another by having them suck spike but if you have the mech tied down before you suck their spike it just shows how much control you have over them.

 

 Is that how you like having your spike sucked Jazz? Do you like to punish mechs that way or do you prefer to be tied down and at someone else’s mercy? It has been so long since we last met I can’t quite remember.

 

—Stop it? But I am not doing anything Jazz. I mean, I am just moving so I am more comfortable. You want me comfortable don’t you? It is against the Autobot code to harm prisoners and I am your ‘prisoner’ aren’t I Jazz. 

 

—Aww don’t lie to me Jazz. I know you love this, you always use to love it after all. But if you didn’t love it then Then you really won’t like this…

 

—You do like it though don’t you? You aren’t stopping me after all. In fact I think part of you is paying very close attention to what I am doing right now and is begging me not to stop. Tell me, are you as sweet as you were in the academy?

 

—-mmm I think you are. So sweet. Don’t be shy Jazz, I remember now. Rest your servo on my helm if you want. Maybe my servos will see what other secrets of your frame they can remember? Would you like that mmm? 

 

 

()&**)*)(*)((&(*&()*Q^#&$(*&()#@*&(@)#_$(@#*()&@*($^%&*#&^*###*Q#&$*@&#*(&$%*(&@$*(%&@#*(&*@($%&*(@#%&*(@#&$*(#@&%*(@$&%*#@%&*#&#*@%&#*(@&%*(@##*(@)$#&%*(#@&(*)@!#&*()@!*#()%&*( TranScriPTion CoRRupTEd ()@#($*@#(_&*$#*(@#&$%@(#&%(*)%(&@#()_*_()#*()#Q*()#*W_%()*$W)_%*@)#($*()$%*_)(@#$*%()$*%)(@$*)($@#_ @()*#(@&*)(%$&*#@)($*&@#%*(&*#@(&%*()@$#&%*(#@&*(%&#*()%&$#@*()&$%*(@#&%*(@#

 

No need to slam doors. Hello Prowl. Aren’t you going to let Jazz back in? I would really like to finish what we started before. Though I must ask, are you sure these new restraints are really necessary? You make it sound like I hurt Jazz or like he couldn’t have gotten away at any moment if he had chosen to do so?

 

—Why I was proving a point! A very important one for my story you see. Our frames are hard wired to accept pleasure. 

 

—-Oh no sweet spark it is more than…

 

—-My apologies, Prowl. I will remember to use your designation from now on. My point though, Jazz remembered the pleasure I had given him before. Our frames remember when they are given pleasure and the mechs who give it to them. It imbibes a sense of loyalty and need. It is why despite what the command has always claimed, units who frag one another have always lasted longer in battle. Because they trust each other more and because in the heat of battle the frame knows which EMF’s come from mechs who have provided pleasure and which have provided only pain.That is my pet theory anyway. But for you, Prowl, I will continue with my original story.

 

I walked on at the mines a decacycle later. Just long enough to get my affairs in order. The medbay they presented me with was dreadful, woefully understocked and understaffed. In fact, I was the only medic there and I was the medic for over 150 miners in three main energon mines. 

 

It was hard work, not unlike the work I do now though.

 

—Mining doesn’t compare to war? Oh, Prowl, how silly of you to talk about things you know nothing about.That is where you are wrong you see. Mining was much, much worse than the war. 

 

Here at least I have supplies and a semi-proper medbay. There I was asked to slap mechs back together after cave ins caused by unsafe conditions that could easily have been made safe had the mechs in charge cared for anything but profits. There were cave ins and collapses at least once a decacycle. I got so use to pulling mechs out of the rubble that I could look at a cave in and tell if the mechs buried under the rock were still online. 

 

It was horrible, and spark breaking every cycle and I began to hate Shockwave for sending me there. My skill grew though. When we met for the first time, you remember don’t you? It was the streets of Cybertron during a large battle. A blast had taken off half your leg and your entire arm. Your current medic was working on you but you were still dying. 

 

—Of course there is a point and it is not just to prove that I have saved the lives of every single mech on this base hundreds of thousands of times. 

 

No. Your medic was considered the best of the best, but he wasn’t trained for battle injuries. 

 

I had you patched up in under a **klick** because while they had been caused by blasters and not unstable energon it was the kind of injury I had been trained to deal with through my job at the mines. You, and all the other Autobots on this base are **alive** today, because Shockwave decided he wanted me and wanted to make me more than I was. 

 

—There is no point in that last statement, I am just reflection on the irony of it. I am sure Shockwave intended for me to become a Decepticon Medic from the beginning. 

 

—Megatron? Oh no no. You are quite mistaken there Prowl, you have all been mistaken for thousands of Vorns. Megatron leads the Decepticons, but do you really think a mech who was just a miner had the ability to begin something like that? I have never asked either mech about it but I am sure Megatron’s beginning was like mine in many ways. Shockwave was preparing mechs and supplies long before anyone had ever heard the name Megatron, long before that mech existed he prepared mechs to be loyal to whichever cause he decided to support. 

 

—Me? I suppose I am proof of how even the greatest tactician can’t cover all the variables, how inevitably they get **something** wrong. Oh I know that look. You don’t think if what I am saying is true that he got it wrong. You think he wants me here and my betrayal is proof of that. Well I am not working with him now. The truth code you gave me at the beginning of this interview has made sure of that. If he wants me here, he never told me or gave any sign of it. In fact more than once he has shown anger that I am here. Why do you think the Cons have a capture order out on me?

 

—Well yes, my betrayal I suppose has something to do with that. But I have never shared Autobot secrets with them Prowl. Remember that when you call what I have done a betrayal. Now I am very tired. Jazz quite wore me out earlier and you can only interrogate prisoners for so long according to your rulebook. I will see you next cycle then, though I would prefer Jazz if you don’t mind. 

 

—No? Pity. I will see you then later Prowl. 

 

**————————————————————————————**

 

Private Communication. **SIC Prowl** TO **TIC JAZZ** Status ; { ** _Encrypted_** }:

 

_~Jazz You will remain in the brig for the next four decacycles as it states in the Autobot handbook for your unethical actions in regard to the prisoner._

 

Communication End.

 

Attachment. Status; { ** _Encrypted_** }:

_~On a more personal note, how could you do this? You are the TIC and should show more decorum than this! I am highly disappointed by your actions and will be conducting a further review of your past with the traitor as well as this incident._

 

**————————————————————————————**

 


	4. Decepticon Sympathiser

**Decepticon Sympathiser**

**———————————————————————————**

**Transcript of Prisoner Statement #157983**

(SIC Prowl Interviewing.)

Good morning cycle Prowl. How is Jazz today?

 

—Touchy subject then? I didn’t mean to cause harm in that way. He is a very handsome mech though and sometimes my impulse control just isn’t very good. 

 

—Oh no no Prowl, I would never try to use something like that as a defense for my actions. Let me tell you about my time in the mines. 

 

—-Why? Well because you are interested, or at least the tactician in you is. You want to know how deep the rabbit hole goes. How much of this entire war has been the product of one mech’s goals and actions. I honestly don’t know much myself but stories like mine, they will help put the pieces together won’t they? Really you should get Jazz’s story too some cycle, and if you want to know more than that, talk to Kup. I know you dislike the old mech but like I am the lynchpin for many aspects he is the optics that saw the shift. Or that is what I think anyway. Not much to do here in a cell but think.

 

—Ha! Yes! Yes I rather suppose that is the point of being locked up in a cell even when you are clearly no danger to others. 

 

—Me a danger! No no Prowl, I am a medic. I have oaths to do no harm. I have oaths to heal and to protect my patients. If you let me out of this cell I daresay that I would go right back to what I have always done, fixing mechs.

 

—Yes. Yes I suppose that is what got me here in the first place. We will come to that though. Let me tell you about the miners. 

 

Now they were a gruff bunch. Not like the mechs I use to work on in the academy. They didn’t care if the paint matched or if the welds looked good. They wanted to be fixed as fast as they could because every klick they were with me meant lost credits that could be used to feed themselves or their mates and sparklings. 

 

They knew how to party though let me tell you. You have heard of the twin’s highgrade, let me tell you it is nothing compared to the rock gut that these mechs could brew up from the scraps left by the mine. I met one of the loves of my life at one of their gatherings. He was a strong mech, powerful even as he was battered and dented half the time from his work. Lucky too. Mechs considered working on his crew a blessing because nothing seemed to go wrong in the sectors that he mined. 

 

He was a sight to behold, and I am ashamed to admit I don’t remember much of my first night with him. I believe the first night with a mech really sets the stage for the relationship but I was so fragging over charged I am sure that it was a mess. Honestly, that should have been telling to me about what our relationship would become, one big mess. 

 

He is the one who really showed me the corruption of the senate. Here was an intelligent, wonderful, amazing mech, trapped in the life of a miner. He wrote beautiful poetry, but he couldn’t publish it under his serial number because he was listed as a miner. He taught me about corruption but he also taught me about love.

 

He was the first mech I told about my sparkling hood. He was the first mech I told about Shockwave, though regrettably not Shockwave’s name. And the way he recoiled as if bitten. He held me tightly in his arms and told me that no sparkling, no youngling should ever be treated like that. And, I remember I cried. 

 

I couldn’t tell you now why I cried. Maybe it was just the moment, or maybe it was because some part of me had always known what Shockwave did with me when I was so young waswrong. I cried in his arms and clung to him. And he kissed my helm sweetly and promised me he would never hurt me. Like I had been afraid he would hurt me? Nonesense. 

 

—A break? 

 

—Oh am I crying? It hurts to remember sometimes. See you can mark that down. Not totally sparkless. It will look good at my trial. Do you have something to…thanks.

 

—His name? His official designation was Tron. You can look for him but I am not sure how much you will find in the records. Mining records were never very good. We were together for decavorns. When the protests first started we stood side by side at the rallies. The miners wanted better working conditions, better pay. 

 

And then the senate announced in response that after review the mines were unsafe for mechs to work in. That they would be using drones to mine to keep the miners from being injured. Ha. All it did was put them all out of work. I think the senate expected to starve them into silence. 

 

—Yes you are remembering it correctly. They began sponsoring the pit fights instead. My sweet miner left me to go fight in them, because what else could he have done? He promised he would come back to me, but I never saw my Tron again. 

 

—Where did I go? I wanted to follow him at first, but there just weren’t any openings and I had no interest in just being a kept mech. I wanted freedom do do as I liked, and who I liked. I searched around for some time until I found a small clinic that needed a medic. It was a quiet life honestly, and while I enjoyed it, I missed my friends and companions from before. I did however make a name for myself among the slums, eventually attracted the attention of the senate as well as rumors of my skill grew and spread. 

 

They promised me funding for my clinic in return for agreeing to be their medic. That is how I met Sentinel Prime, because while I hated the senate for closing the mines and separating me from my miner, I also wanted to help the mechs who depended upon my clinic. I was just as desperate for credits as the next mech after all. 

 

—You didn’t know I worked for the senate? Just what kind of records do you have on me? Well, I was using a different name then too. I was using the name Readout, but then my serial number really should match up. Honestly, if I had known how easy it was to become a different mech just by picking a different name I would have done it more often. 

 

So I was Readout, I had been Glyph as a youngling, Fusion as a trainee medic and when working with the miners and then I was Readout. Senate medic and medic in charge of the best free clinic on Cybertron. I even had three mechs working under me at the clinic though I tried to do as much work as I could myself. They just didn’t have the knack for it that I did. 

 

—How did I end up with mechs working for me? Well the Senate paid extraordinarily well and I worked with the academy as a kind of an apprentice thing for the three mechs. I think they all expected to replace me some cycle as the Senate’s medic and then close down the clinic. Ha. Like I could be replaced that easily if I didn’t want to be replaced. 

 

I can tell you aren’t believing most of my story Prowl. I promise you though, the evidence for all of it is there if you know where to look. You can claim the things I say aren’t in my nature, but what do you know of my true nature. How have any of you shown any care for me in my time here as your medic? Crowded medical bays, mechs refusing basic treatment and then trashing my medbay and treating it like a joke. 

 

How many **times** have I spent late nights scrubbing energon stains off of my medical bay berths only to come in in the morning and find some prank that has messed it all up again? How much time have any of you **really** spent with me to get to know me?

 

…That is what I thought. I am tired now. I know my trial date has been set. I will make sure to finish my story before the trial. Come back tomorrow. I am done talking today. 

 

**————————————————————————————**

 

Incident Report. **Security Director Red Alert** TO **SIC Prowl** Status;  { ** _Encrypted_** }:

_~Ravenge was captured at 0400 human military time heading through the ventilation system to the brig. A search of his subspace revealed he was carrying an encrypted data pad much like the ones we found in the former CMO’s office. It has been given to the OPS mechs for decryption._

 

_~Security restrictions around the traitor’s cell shall be increasing by three levels as this will be presented during the trial as further proof of the medic’s involvement with the Decepticons._

 

Communication End.

 

 

**————————————————————————————**

**Transcript of Prisoner Statement #157983**

(SIC Prowl Interviewing.) 

Good morning Prowl, I heard there was a little chaos earlier this morning.

 

—Bluestreak mentioned it when he brought me my energon, you know the poor mech can’t keep his mouth shut even when he is mad at me. 

 

—-No. I don’t know what Ravenge was trying to bring me and no I won’t translate what is on those other data pads. I told you already it was confidential.

 

—Please what do you take me for? They aren’t anything to do with the Autobot’s tactics or plans. What do you take me for Prowl? I am just a medic. They are medical files, hence, confidential.

 

—-I don’t know Prowl, do you have access to any of your fellow Autobot’s medical files? No? Well why should I give you access to these ones? Anyway this conversation was boring and I thought you wanted to hear more about my time serving the Senate as their medic?

 

I am sure you remember the “ **Golden Age”** was far from golden. You can tell that from my story so far, but it wasn’t golden in another way. I had only been in my position at the clinic for a few vorns when the first rumbles of war broke out. Now what many forget, is the Decepticon side started as an activist movement. 

 

—Yes I know you are aware of that Prowl, but let me finish now. It is rude to interrupt. The senate however controlled everything, even the media. They were careful to keep their plans and information private, but well, honestly who pays attention to the medic in the room? Especially the medic who you so enjoy for his discretion in all kinds of matters. 

 

After all, if I can be discreet about what exactly they wanted in the berth and the types of injuries they came in with, well then why wouldn’t I keep quiet about their plans.

 

The Senate wanted the Decepticons rooted out and crushed. They wouldn’t settle for any type of compromise with their demands, and so they started sending enforcers to break up the rallies. I am sure you were sent to break up more than one yourself weren’t you Prowl?

 

—-Yes well, **you are a tactician** aren’t you Prowl? What happens when you have a mech who is desperate, they are low on food, and moral, and supplies, but they have a singular mission to make life better for themselves and those they care about. What happens when you forbid that mech from expressing himself? From pleading his case to those who could make life better for him? When you lock him up, and when you take away his every chance of hope? Tell me Prowl, **what is more dangerous than a desperate mech with nothing to lose**?

 

The attacks on the rallies drove the Decepticons to violent acts themselves, and everything snowballed to use a human term. The weight of the Senate’s oppression could no longer be supported and so they sought to throw off that burden. 

 

—Typical Decepticon propaganda you say? Well yes, but is it truly propaganda when it is true? I know the Decepticons have preformed atrocities during this war, I have seen the mechs who pass over my table Prowl, I have seen every laser wound and gouged plating. I have seen mechs twisted in ways by weapons that should never have been created. 

 

I however, have also not been blinded by the Autobot’s versions of propaganda either. This is war Prowl. In war mech’s die, they are killed by both sides and only the victor in the end gets to proclaim that the other’s actions were unjust and cruel. The victor gets to parade and stand tall proclaiming to all who would listen how right they were, and how wrong and bad the others were.

 

When the war started Prowl, for all that I “sympathized" as you say, with the Decepticons, I joined a neutral base. **I didn’t want War.** I don’t want it now. I don’t want violence or misery. All I have ever wanted to do was do work that made me happy.

 

Patching a mech after battle, that doesn’t make me happy. I would much rather be doing cosmetic work, updating antivirals, tending to sparklings. Despite all I have said before that probably has you thinking me a Decepticon at spark, at spark I am just me. When the time came to choose sides, I chose to be neutral. 

 

It was a quirk of fate that led me to wear the Autobot brand, but **I wouldn’t call it choice.**  

 

**————————————————————————————**

 

 


	5. In Which Jazz Finds Out Prowl's Plan

In Which Jazz Finds Out Prowl's Plan

**————————————————————————————**

Official  Report. **TIC Jazz** TO **SIC Prowl** Status ; { ** _Encrypted_** }:

_~I managed to hack the data pad Ravange was carrying. Long story short it was from a group of Decepticons asking if Ratchet needed an extraction from our brig._

 

_~Apparently they are aware that there has been talk of wiping Ratchet’s personality core in order to maintain his skills on our side while negating the threat he poses to the cause._

 

_~I will put my mechs on it but Red Alert’s increased security should make an extraction impossible for them._

 

Communication End.

 

Attachment. Status;  { ** _Encrypted_** }:

_~What exactly have you been discussing! By Primus Prowl I am TIC how could you and Prime keep this from me! The Decepticons knew before I did! Or should I say you keeping this from me? I know Prime would never agree to something like that unless you presented it to him as if he had no other choice._

 

_~Bots don’t wipe other’s personality cores. We don’t do reprogramming. I won’t stand for it Prowl. I know you think I am compromised, but you are the one considering deleting what makes a mech who he is a viable option for punishment. We don’t even have evidence he gave away any secrets._

 

_~The only evidence we have is some grainy footage of him repairing a con and his own statements.This isn’t why I signed up to join the Bots Prowl. And I know a lot of the rest of the crew agrees with me._

 

_~Even if they are mad at Ratchet now, every one of them has had his servos in their internals and almost all of them owe their lives to him. Remember that._

 

**————————————————————————————**

**Transcript of Prisoner Statement #157983**

(TIC Jazz Interviewing.)

Oh that face. Something must be seriously going on now. Tell me have they decided I won’t be getting a trial after all? Letting you back in here Jazz in order to soften the blow of my impending execution?

 

—That is what you do to traitors isn’t it? Why wouldn’t I think that is my fate? 

 

— **Pffff.** Your medic, so being your medic frees me from the punishment any other mech would face? 

 

Ah. I see now. They are going to try and reprogram me. It never takes you know. It can last for a while, some things may last for a long while, but it isn’t permanent. No matter what the scientists tell you about the research behind it, they aren’t medics. 

 

You can make me forget Jazz, you can take away all my memories and files, you can reprogram me to remember whatever you like and to act however you like, but the spark remembers. It is what makes us different from machines you see. It is what gives us consciousness. 

 

Still though, that face. There is something else isn’t there? They didn’t tell you did they? They know that much about your past then that you would object so strongly. Still in the back of your processor you’ve known all along they were or would discuss reprogramming me, after all I am too valuable and you need a medic, First Aid isn’t nearly trained enough to take over my position. 

 

So are you just here to give me the news then? That it? Did you want me to weep? I won’t. I won’t cry when a group I though was less corrupt that the one before it returns to their old ways. I would have been better off joining the Decepticons. 

 

—-.

 

—-.

 

—-Yes! Alright. Slagging shut the frag up already! I remember. I fragging remember. Who could, do you honestly think anyone could ever forget something like that!

 

—Shut your mouth you glitch! You don’t even know what you are talking about. So just shut up.

 

—-Ha. You want to hear it in my words, go frag yourself. I don’t want to talk about it but that doesn’t mean I have forgotten. The youngling centers, the massacres that happened there, they are unforgivable. The mechs who killed those sparklings deserve to smelt in the pit for all eternity. 

 

Oh. I see. **Clever Jazz.** You always were a clever one, and always protective. You think I am feeling guilty, that I have been digging a hole for myself **on purpose.** You think I wanted to be offlined. That I want to be made to forget. You think all of this, is some virus or some glitch that the cons have put in my programming.

 

—Is my coding clean? You can check it yourself. I think it is. Maybe not, but that doesn’t change how I feel and act now and how I have acted in the past. I have always been like this Jazz, if my coding has been altered, then it was altered when I was a youngling. 

 

In fact, I can prove that to you, but it will ruin your outlook on life and on this war. Are you prepared for that?

 

**The Decepticon command didn’t order the massacres, the Senate did.**  

 

Think about it. Fighting was at a stand still, people were expecting peace negations any day, the cons were in a good position to get their demands filled.  

 

And then the unthinkable was done, and suddenly there wasn’t an Autobot alive who was willing to agree to their terms. There were many neutrals who weren’t willing either. I was in Sector Beta-3 you know, of course you know or you wouldn’t have brought up how I was found.

 

I was on the field, trying to save the sparks of younglings with everything I had. It wasn’t much. As neutrals our supplies were greatly diminished, I couldn’t save them with the supplies I had.

 

But then a group of Autobots arrived. I would have done anything for those supplies, proclaiming my willingness to Wheeljack to join the cause? That was nothing. 

 

He filled out all my registration forms while I used the newly available supplies to save as many as I could. Around me all I heard was how decepticon bomb squads had come in the night and planted the bombs in the buildings.

 

So the mechs I sympathized with, they betrayed so much that I began to hate them for it. I hated the mechs I once viewed as oppressed even if part of me couldn’t believe their actions. 

 

When everything wound down I was an Autobot, I didn’t want to be part of the war, but I wanted to be able to stand ready should any more mechs be hurt by mechs I once thought I knew. 

 

Is that what you wanted to hear Jazz? I swear to you it is the truth. You don’t have to believe me alone. There is a black data pad in the stack of encrypted ones you found. I will ping you the activation code for it, and only it. It has all the evidence you need on it. It had all the evidence I needed.

 

**————————————————————————————**

Private Communication.  **SIC Prowl** TO **TIC Jazz** Status ; { ** _Encrypted_** }:

 

_~I want those documents finished as quickly as possible. We need to be above board and public with all of our actions. This means making the evidence against Ratchet public to reduce the blow to moral._

 

_~I know you are against the decision to wipe his personality core, but honestly isn’t it best for him to forget the awful things that have happened to him? Beyond that he has to face some form of punishment, and the cause cannot afford to lose a medic at this point._

 

_~It will be a new start for him, and after the records are out there I plan on initiating protocols to insulate the new medic from any backlash. Think of it like late rehabilitation, a way to end his pain without ending his life._

 

Communication End.

 

**————————————————————————————**

 


	6. A New Visitor

**A New Visitor**

**————————————————————————————**

**Transcript of Prisoner Statement #157983**

(Unauthorized visitor followed by TIC Jazz Interviewing.) 

Wheeljack? You weren’t a face I was expecting to see. Come to tell me how disappointed you are in me before I can’t remember why you are disappointed? 

 

—Good. I am glad. They should know the truth. The Cons aren’t perfect, I am not blind to that, but neither are the Bots. Optimus is a good mech, he leads well and is an honest mech. The ones who came before him, who the majority of the atrocities were preformed by in the early days of the war, they were not good. 

 

—-I stayed after I learned who truly committed the atrocities because Megatron as he is now is clinically insane. And he has committed many other atrocities since then. He may not have ordered the youngling murders in the past, but it is something he would be more than willing to do now. He is a mad mech and I could never follow him. 

 

It isn’t like I could just become a neutral either. So I am stuck. I am lucky to be stuck following a mech I can respect, but still, stuck.

 

—-Why did I betray, I didn’t betray Optimus. I held true to my oaths as a medic. 

 

—-Oh has my story so far gotten out then around the base? Well let me make this clear to you Wheeljack, loyalty has always been important to me, I just put loyalty to myself first. The mechs I helped, the ones I saved, they didn’t deserve the lot in life that they were handed. At the end of the day your servos are just as coated in energon as theirs. 

So don’t talk to me about loyalty. I am loyal to the belief that one day this war will end and no matter which side gets to proclaim themselves the good and righteous, the fact will still remain thatall mechs will still be stained pink with energon. 

 

It isn’t about me trying to save my own neck. It is about doing, for once, what I feel is right. Helping those that need it. Maybe I became a medic due to a quirk of fate, but being a medic is what I was forged for. 

 

The Autobot command certainly recognized that quickly. It didn’t take me long to rise through the ranks after all. I have the lowest loss rate of any medic on either side of the war.  

 

I am sure you remember that, after all you are the one who put me up for promotion to CMO. Tell me Wheeljack, did you want me promoted because of my record as a medic, or because you were being transferred to follow the Prime and you wanted to make sure your frag buddy got transferred with you.

 

—-.

 

**(8 minutes of deleted tape)**

 

—-.

 

—-I didn’t know. I mean, you’ve probably heard my story from Jazz. I have loved, but I am sure you know how messed up my ideas of love are by now. I am a messed up mech Wheeljack, maybe it is for the best they are going to erase me.

 

—I cared for you too, care for you, more than the other mechs I am required to patch up regularly but honestly…I am sorry. What I said before was to get a rise out of you. I know you aren’t like that, and I don’t have an excuse for saying it. I don’t have an excuse for a lot of the things I have done. But Wheeljack, I don’t regret a lot of the things I have done either. 

 

Thinking back on it now maybe I love you too. Maybe I always have and that is why I ran away from you after the academy but followed you back to the Autobots so willingly vorns later.

 

And I am not an Autobot in anything but name. And you remind me why that is regrettable, but that doesn’t make it less true.

 

You deserve the truth, and believe it or not I have to tell it to you now with this truth code in me. So I will tell you. The first time I betrayed the cause was when I patched up Starscream. It wasn’t after a battle, I had gone on a quick supply run and gotten separated from my escorts. I was angry in those days, so very angry at the Decepticons.

 

I stumbled across him, and Wheeljack I know you hate him and it is hard to remember this at times, but he is so young for a seeker. Young compared to the rest of us. He was made second in command because he was the heir to Vos and Megatron needed Vos’ support. And yes, he is manipulative, and yes he is devious and dangerous. But he is also what the war forced him to become.  

 

He was bleeding out in a ravine, unable to even look up at the sky. A seeker, forged to dance in the air without the strength to even gaze at what he loved in his final moments.

 

And I didn’t see a killer of sparklings and a mech who had ripped the sparks out of so many soldiers, how could I? I saw a youngling seeker, lost in a world he never wanted. A world I never wanted. 

 

—Don’t give me that. I am not soft sparked. I have lived through more than most can imagine. If anything my spark is cold and hardened. But I am, and was then, tired. Tired of watching life energon spill out over my servos. Of watching lights fade from optics. I am so, so very tired of death. 

 

I patched him up, he scoffed at me at first, but he also recognized me. I have a capture order out on me from the Decepticon command, most think it is because I am CMO, but it isn’t. 

 

It is because I knew Megatron before he took that name. Because I loved him, as much as I can love before he was anything more than a simple miner who would write me poetry in the evenings and held me tenderly at night.

 

And when the war started he sent me a message saying he would have me at his side one way or another. Then he put the order out on me. 

 

Oh no. No, no. Please. I. It isn’t like that. I said I loved mechs before but that I was also messed up and. 

 

—-Wheeljack, please. I thought you knew. 

 

—I thought…please. It was a long time ago. 

 

—- **Don’t go!**

 

Jack can you hear me? Please. Please come back. Come back because soon they are going to make me forget everything. I am not going to be me anymore and I won’t know how much you mean to me. And I am sorry it took me so long to realize it. 

 

Jack…please. I don’t want…it’s better you leave anyway. You don’t need me being messed up dragging you down.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

Hello Jazz. I am tired of talking today. 

 

—I thought you had figured that out long ago Jazz. At least since I told you of the miner I loved if not before. I told you his name was Tron, that he wrote poetry, or I guess I told Prowl.It doesn’t matter. 

 

—I didn’t lie to him before. I asked him why he thought the cons had a capture order out on me. It was a question, not a statement. Your truth code needs a little work I think.

 

—No. I know I am crying, but it is because I hadn’t realized how much I cared about…I thought I could name every mech in my life that I had loved, but it seems one snuck past me. I didn’t even know until he was gone. 

 

—I don’t need your sympathy. He was looking for an excuse. Subconsciously, I guess I wanted to give him one. An excuse not to feel bad when they erase me. And maybe I deserve it, maybe I would be a better mech with a clean slate.

 

You know Starscream is the one who told me that the Decepticons were innocent of the sparkling murders, provided me with evidence as well. It is all in those encrypted files I told you about. 

 

Ah. I can tell from your face that you have read it. Sparkbreaking isn’t it? To think that this war could have ended eons ago. I want to recharge now Jazz. If you got into that data pad, you can read the rest of what I have done from the others. I would just like to be left alone until my trial. Or I guess until they come down to wipe me since it seems I don’t get a trial. Can you make sure Aid doesn’t do it? I don’t want, the kid doesn’t deserve to be put through something like that.

 

—-I am just very tired now Jazz. I am very tired. And I want to recharge. And yeah, that sounds like Prowl, and yeah it is messed up but…I am here and I don’t really have a way of stopping it. I stand by the fact that medically it won’t work, but if it does…maybe that is for the best.

**————————————————————————————**

Official Report. **TIC Jazz** TO **SIC Prowl** Status;  { ** _Encrypted_** }:

~ _The majority of the files are medical records. I didn’t do more than scan them. But there was also a diary. That record you wanted of everything he has done. It has his thoughts when patching up both bots and cons._

 

_~After reading it, it is my professional opinion that he would never join Megatron. He has diagnosed the mech as clinically insane, and we all know that. The entries are spark breaking, and in my personal opinion should not be made a matter of public record. If you insist add the to his security locked personal file, but no one deserves the right to read another’s innermost thoughts._

 

_~In addition to repairing Decepticons, he is also responsible for providing their medic Hook with some additional medical training. He goes into great depth comparing First Aid’s progress to Hook’s progress. They are the happiest entries in the journals._

 

_~There is even a description of the event we have footage of. He apparently has a deal worked out with the elite trine, Soundwave, and the Constructicons that they can approach him for repairs and in return they will continue to fail to capture him and bring him to Megatron as well as work on reducing the casualties on both sides of battles._

 

_You saw the state we got him back in the one time Megatron succeeded in having him captured. No mech does that to someone they love, he had reason to fear for his spark and life._

 

Communication End.

 

Attachment. Status;  { ** _Encrypted_** }:

 

_~I have further attached the relevant entries and documents. If anything Prowl, we owe Ratchet that there haven’t been more deaths in this war. He isn’t a traitor, just a mech trying to preserve life. Whatever the Prime decides is going to happen, but I know you have more push than you would admit. Don’t wipe his personality core. Don’t become everything we claim to fight agains._

 

**————————————————————————————**

 


	7. All Plays Come to an End

**All Plays Come to an End**

**————————————————————————————**

Official Report. **SIC Prowl** TO **Optimus Prime** Status;  { ** _Encrypted_** }:

_~This morning at 0600 human time the personality wipe procedure was preformed on one Ratchet for the crime of assisting the enemy and betraying the Autobot cause. The Procedure was preformed by SIC Jazz and witnessed by myself and Red Alert._

 

_~The new personality has been given the designation Hardline and all tests show that his personality core is a clean slate. He will have a new chance at life now, and will hopefully remain loyal to the cause. Hardline was repainted and should be fit to return to work by this evening at 1800 human time._

Communication End. 

 

**————————————————————————————**

_**Medical Log Entry: ** _ 3119-A7

 

Hello. Come in and take a seat. My name is Hardline and I will be your medic today. You look a little upset, I am sorry do I know you?

 

I should say did. There was an incident with my personality core when they were bringing me back online. Don’t worry though, I still have all my medical knowledge so you are in good servos. I know it will be hard trusting anyone after what happened with your last medic but…anyway. Just hop up here.

 

I will let you know though that as part of the new security measures everything said in the medical bay is recorded but the files are just stored without review unless something goes wrong. 

 

—-So your name is Wheeljack? That is a nice name. I will just start these scans and…

 

…Can you let go of my servo? You are freaking me out. If you don’t stop it I am going to call security…hey where are you going?

 

—No come back I haven’t even taken any scans!

 

**————————————————————————————**

Official Report. **SIC Prowl** to  **TIC Jazz** Status;  { **Open** }:

[Audio from incident following unprovoked attack by Science Officer Wheeljack on my person.]

 

**_“What did you do.”_ **

 

_“What we always knew had to be done Wheeljack. Every step in the process was very clear and open. By the way this will be recorded and sent along with the incident report.”_

 

**_“That is all you have to say to me! That is all you have to say after you took away everything that made him who he was! After you took away…you killed him. You killed him and left a stranger to inhabit his frame.”_ **

 

_“Considering your interactions with him proceeding the procedure one wouldn’t think that you would be this bothered.”_

 

[Second act of violence is recorded here.]

 

**_“What gave you the right! The right to decide to just delete a mech. At least off lining is less cruel”_ **

 

_“We could not afford to lose our medic, at the same time his loyalty had to be assured. It was our only option Wheeljack.”_

 

[At this point in the incident Wheeljack left. I recommend minimal brig time and possibly a transfer until such time as Hardline’s new personality has had time to take root.]

 

**————————————————————————————**

**Transcript of Cell Log #157996**

(Authorized visit of CMO Hardline to Science Officer Wheeljack)

 

I hope you are alright. Jazz told me you had injured your servo before you were sent down here and needed someone to come and repair it. 

 

—Now now. I don’t want to hear any fuss. **Honestly**. You would think that **someone** would have taught you better back at the academy. 

 

—Not a word now. Just let Hardline patch you up so you can serve out the rest of your sentence in contemplation of the spark. 

 

Our sparks are really such marvels things you know. Even medics don’t fully understand them. There are things about sparks that just can’t be taught or taken away. 

 

For instance we don’t know why mechs need certain systems, except that the spark will reject a frame that doesn’t have them. Ways to communicate for instance, memory storage and the like. A spark will reject a frame without the proper systems inline. 

 

Of course medics have **redundant systems**. So that if you were hurt I could take out one of mine and use it to replace yours or incase you had a virus but I needed to directly uplink to you. It would be pretty terrible if you had some processor altering virus and I caught it during a direct uplink. No one would ever get treated!

 

There. Does your servo feel better?

 

—Good. Now, I want you to know **I am sorry**. I know I freaked you out before, but I hope we can start over. I mean, I want to be honest with you, I am starting everything over it seems and it would be terrible to start with you on the wrong ped.

 

—Now I have to go. I hope I will see you soon, it is disconcerting not remembering things and I would love to have at least one friendly face. A mech I can trust. 

 

\--Hum? Oh yes. Jazz sent me like I said. He is a good mech, I can just tell he is protective of those he considers his friends. He wouldn't ever let anything happen to them.

Now you rest. Contemplate for a while. Jazz is trying to talk Prowl out of transferring you so, behave ok? I want to talk more with you later and I can't do that if you get shipped off. 

 

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 END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. Yes this is the end of Ratchet's story, but I am actually toying with the idea of having Jazz tell his story next. The only thing is for what I want to do with it this exact same format just won't work though I want to do something similar. 
> 
> All of this came about from too much transformers fanfiction, and also from reading the book Aztec by Gary Jennings. The book has a very particular way of telling the narrative that I have found interesting since I read it. I don't know if I captured it fully here but I am pretty happy the results none the less. 
> 
> I will say here that I am horrible with commas and many other grammatical aspects, and I have read through this quite a few times looking for mistakes but I probably didn't get them all. So thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it despite any mistakes that might be present.
> 
> Finally, I don't own Transformers, and I am not making any money from this fic. It is just something I have been playing with for some time and finally decided to get brave enough to post.


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